School superintendent challenges lawmakers to "make my school a prison"

Ithaca Public Schools Superintendent Nathan Bootz wrote an open letter to Michigan lawmakers asking them to make his school a prison. He says prisoners have more advantages than students.

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A Michigan school superintendent’s open letter to lawmakers makes a startling request and it’s getting national attention.

Nathan Bootz runs Ithaca Public Schools, a district with about 1,300 students.

Bootz wrote a letter to the Gratiot County Herald newspaper and suggested that the state turn his school district into a prison.

He says the state spends a lot more money on inmates than students.

"Roof over their heads, clothing on their backsides, three square meals a day, health care, access to a weight room, access to a computer, access to an education -- all that stuff we provide them because they have Constitutional Rights. But what about the Constitutional rights of children," Bootz asks.

He says his letter’s been picked up by other news outlets and reposted on facebook, and he’s gotten responses from people all across the United States. But he’s not heard anything from the Michigan Legislature.